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Should you buy shares in Ryanair?

High-flyer shows no fear of crash landing

RYANAIR is Europe’s biggest low-fares airline, operating from bases across the Continent and carrying more than 30m passengers a year. The company is rarely out of the news. It has recently lampooned the government for its failure to deliver an independently operated second terminal at Dublin airport, while Michael O’Leary, its colourful chief executive, has been threatened with jail as a result of a dispute with one of the airline’s pilots. It is also locking horns with BAA, which is proposing a sharp increase in landing fees at Stansted to fund the airport’s future development.

In spite of these public controversies, Ryanair continues to significantly outperform its peers. The airline will next week publish results for the year to the end of March with brokers predicting pre-tax profits of €270m on revenues of €1.3 billion. This makes it the most profitable airline in Europe.